


The Shieldmaiden

by epistretes



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, BAMF Sif, Bloody Violence, Casual Sex, Cunnilingus, F/M, Finger Fucking, First Mate Thor, Graphic Sex, Hate Sex, High Seas, Loki/Sigyn arranged marriage, Masturbation, Multi, Not brothers, Orphanage, Pirate AU, Pirate Queen Sif, Rum, Sif's Crew OCs, art of death, captive Loki, except Volstagg, gender divide, giftfic, gobs of treasure, governor's son Loki, grog, mateys, mentions of a whorehouse, mischief and mistletoe, not brother Thor and Loki, objectification of men, objectification of women, philanthropic Sif, political marriage plans, previous mentioned Thor/Sif, sexy thoughts of her crew, swabbing, the rum is not all gone, treasure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 13:41:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2813996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epistretes/pseuds/epistretes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In response to the request from Mischief & Mistletoe: Pirate AU with Pirate Queen Sif and Dainty Captive Loki? Mutiny and hatred and treasure and dining together in close quarters and starting to worry about each others safety.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shieldmaiden

**Author's Note:**

  * For [murdur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/murdur/gifts).



“Hard to starboard!” Captain Sif shouted at her crew, the battle too close now to simply delegate to her First Mate, Thor. Not that she ever really shirked from her duties when it came to battle anyway - she had not been known as the Pirate Queen for so many years for sitting in her cabin and waiting for the spoils of the fight to come to her in neat little chests.

“Hogun, tell the gunners to fill the chambers awaiting my signal to fire,” she called to her second mate as she unsheathed her mighty sword. This had been a rare find on a raid more sunsets ago than she liked to think of. She had attacked a small but important port town and she had led the charge in to the governor’s stately home and liberated the sword from a rather impressive display. Her crew got the bulk of it, but she got the pick - this sword. It gleamed with deadly intent in her hand, which fit her grip perfectly. She had never lost a battle with this sword and she did not intend to start now.

Her men’s caches across the scattered islands contained chest upon chest upon chest of treasure, but none of them had yet left her service by choice, only by blade. She brought them power, prosperity and above all, the fight. She had made her crew rich and when they all finally decided to call it a day and retire on the winnings that their piracy had brought them, they would live like kings.

The little beauty that they were bearing down on looked like it was full to bursting with riches. She could likely pass on her ship, the Shieldmaiden, to another and retire just on this fat jewel alone. It looked like some sort of diplomatic barge, beautifully wrought she was but sadly Sif would have to turn her gunners on it. She had the wind gage, she had the more streamlined ship and she had the fight already singing in her blood. Unsurprised by the galley that peeked out behind it and readied itself for battle, but Sif had been wily to their ploy. No barge of this kind would ever travel unaccompanied.

“Hogun, give the order!” she bellowed down her beloved ship and while he did not reply, she knew that he had heeded her. Within moments of her yell, the cannons fired upon the galley and blasted holes in it enough to cripple it cruelly. Their enemy had clearly either not much seafaring experience or was simply arrogantly assured that their guns would give them the battle without much strategy required and those were the pickings Captain Sif liked the best. Foolish, arrogant, filled with coin and less of a danger to her crew. Her Shieldmaiden might not be the biggest or most-gunned ship on the high seas, but it was nigh on un-catchable.

Bearing down on the arrogant galley, she called her crew to arms. The cannons fired once more and took out the mast with the ease and precision of practice, all they needed to do now was board. The planks were laid quickly and her crew swarmed the ship. Sif’s sword rang through the air and the blood she shed stained the boards of the ship as she sliced down her enemy without mercy. They were of no use to her alive and she had not enough space in the hold for captives and for booty. She did not believe in allowing enemies to escape her and potentially attack again. That and she still had the barge to take - she was not about to be as careless as to give these fools the chance to board her own ship whilst she was occupied with the barge.

“No mercy!” she reminded, almost needlessly as her crew were almost as efficient in the art of granting death to a foe as she was. She saw Fandral take out three surrounding him with a complicated maneuver that involved one foe’s own sword being used to stab him, another being skewered in the groin in order to bring him low and slice his throat with a reverse swing and the third being pitched overboard. It was fluid, it was graceful and he winked at Sif before charging off to see to Volstagg who was busy banging heads together and knocking out those around him. She was sure Fandral would poke them full of useful holes and get rid of them.

Turning to her own, she saw Hogun and the others coming back above deck ready to board. Thor was with them, his mighty hammer in his hand and ready to wreak havoc. Sif left the galley, already won but requiring a little more mop-up to her men and rejoined the others. 

“Ready on my signal! Take only prisoners we might ransom for gold. Kill the rest!” she bellowed and as they came to the optimum distance, she lifted her sword and gave a battle cry. Her men swarmed the barge and cut down the first wave of desperate defenders. She herself left them to it, smiling briefly as she saw Thor use his hammer to smash his way in to the hold, instinctively heading for where any weapons and treasure might be stored. Her own path was different and while she kicked one man overboard then ducked low to avoid his fellow’s strike, she brought her sword up and through his rib cage. Dead before she withdrew her sword, she kicked him free to counteract the wet suction of his lifeless body on her weapon. Splattered and dripping in blood and sweat, she gave a mighty kick and rended the door to the most ornate cabin from the hinges.

“Now would be the time to give up, boys,” she teased as three men stood there before her, dressed in finery, several attendants around them.

“Get off of my ship, woman,” the biggest of the finely dressed trio warned.

“Oh no, did I bring you bad luck by bringing my woman parts on board? That is such a shame,” she retorted, more than used to the men not of her crew looking down on her. A few even of her own had at first until they saw just how much booty she brought in and what quick, vicious death she brought on those who did not toe the line or stood in her way. “This ship is mine now. Step up if you would like to die, surrender if you would prefer to be a captive and live for a while longer yet.”

The big one charged even as she saw the middle one throw the smaller to the floor and cover him, shouting to the attendants present to circle them. The brute threw himself at her, clearly meaning to go for her head and crush it like a grape in his huge hands, but she dodged his attack with her superior speed and spun behind him. Her blade swiped out and sliced his Achilles Tendon, causing him to hit the floor screaming with pain as Thor, Hogun, Fandral and Volstagg entered the room behind her. Volstagg and Thor let out great bellows of amusement as they saw the simple but efficient pain their Captain had wrought on her reckless foe.

“Any last words?” She stepped on to his back and leveled her blade at his heart, she knew she would strike true and through his rib bones, piercing his heart and killing him instantly.

“Don’t kill him!” A muffled yell came from within the circle and beneath the other big man. “Please, do not kill him.”

“And why should I not?”

“Get off, By, I can’t speak to her from under here.” The big man moved and the smallest of the trio stood, dusted himself off and stepped forward, parting the protective circle. “Please, spare him. I invoke parley, whatever is needed, just please do not kill my little brother.”

“ _Little_ brother? He is twice your size!” Volstagg the Voluminous chortled, taking in the small man.

“Nevertheless, he is my little brother and as such, I must protect him as he tried to protect me.”

“A deal. He even once tries to harm any of my crew, my sword will pierce his heart.” Sif bargained right back.

“If he were to be so foolish then I agree.” The man bowed his head a little and Sif liked the show of respect. This one had a smooth tongue, he could prove problematic but he also looked rich and that meant someone would likely pay a lot to get him - and his brother - back.

“Bind their hands. If any so much as tries to resist, throw them overboard,” she commanded and her men swarmed forward to do as she bade. “You, Silvertongue, follow me.”

He nodded again and fell in behind her. She knew he would not be so foolish as to try anything, not when his men were dead or captive and anything he attempted to do to her would be revisited tenfold on him and his brother. They both understood the pecking order implicitly.

She led him across the planks and in to the anteroom of her chambers. As her men grabbed and fought over anything of value on the ships, she closed her door and picked up her bottle of rum, pouring two glasses. She plonked one in front of her captive and she sat, wide legged on her own stool and knocked back her own glass, the bottle easily to hand. Her weapon and a cleaning cloth she plucked up and began to clean the blood of his protectors from it in a bit of a show. He was not bound physically, but they both knew that she had him entirely in her power.

"So, my little pretty captive," she began as she flicked the blood from her blade. "Who are you and where are you going? I remind you that lying to me will be your brother's death, before your own."

"My name is Loki Laufeyson." He seemingly had decided to be straight with her as far as she could tell. Her "skill" with liars was mostly bluff. "I am on a diplomatic mission from Governor Laufey of Jotunheimr to the isle of Vanaheimr."

"Both ripe and ready for a bit of plucking," she mused, so she had a couple of little princelings. "And which of these fine places would pay more for you, I wonder? The land of your birth or the land that promised you safe passage?"

"I am unsure."

"A pretty little lie, perhaps we shall start with your brother's fingers? Just as a reminder..." Loki blanched.

"No! Vanaheimr... would pay more for me." Sif mused on it. It was likely a painful admission to admit that someone would pay a higher ransom than one's own father. Sif did not know, her father was dead before she was born and her mother left her in childbed. Loki, though, seemed more concerned than most across from her blade usually were about another's skin. She could use that. Perhaps he was shipped off as the least favoured child? It seemed plausible.

"I see. They do have fewer weapons and a smaller army, plus it will give some of my crew pleasurable dockside company." As she thought on it, her door reopened. Thor came in with Fandral to report.

"The girls are stripped and ravished, just as we like them," Thor gave a smirk as he reported on the captured ships.

"A sure-fire way of telling me you are ready for a bit of shore leave," she laughed at him. She had admired Thor once. They had dallied somewhat ashore before she had taken to the seas. He had followed her in secret and they had simply become Captain and First Mate. Anything more was foolish and she had had to hold herself above such dalliances (at least publicly) or risk being subjected to even more gender-based idiocy than she already was. Not to mention that it was risky enough having the Crown Prince of Asgard aboard without it being known that they were physical on top of it. It was a poorly kept secret that the Prince had taken to piracy out of boredom as it was. Odin Allfather would not be so lenient were they to step even further out of line. No, he was merely training in combat and she, the orphan daughter of commoners and raised in a brothel was merely there. Sif did not care. She had the waters beneath her feet and the salty air in her face. She had _freedom_.

"You!" It seemed that now he had had a good look at Thor, he recognised him.

"Me. Hello, Little Loki." Thor retorted with a smirk that could likely curdle milk.

"So the glorious Thor Odinson is a mere pirate - and not even a captain." Loki shot back with venom. Sif pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. 

"Sorry, what was that? You'll have to speak up. I can't hear you from all the way down there." Was the mature response he received.

"I said-"

"Okay, enough. Both of you shut up before I push you overboard." Sif finally snapped, pointing the tip of her blade at them each in turn to underscore her annoyance. "Seeing as you two are already acquainted, Thor - you are to be Loki's bondsman. He will lodge under your protection in your cabin. Any fighting and I'll drop you both for the sharks. Fandral, strip the galley of anything of use, scuttle the bones."

"I thought I would be with my brothers," Loki protested and Sif immediately connected the plural with the man who had covered him with his body. Indeed, that could prove useful. In his distress at being put with Thor he had not noticed his slip; which of course only made her more determined to see it through.

"You thought wrong. Leave me. Tell Hogun to make for Midgard." She commanded and Thor snapped to instantly. He grabbed Loki and pulled him from the room. Sif smirked when she caught a sullen "This is your fault" from him as he shut the door behind them.

Finally she was able to relax and contemplate the day's spoils. Midgard would be perfect for restocking and breaking down the ships she had captured. Then she could hasten to Vanaheimr and offload her captives.

Slinging back another few fingers of rum, she stripped and retired to her bed. Slipping between the luxurious sheets, she let her hands sweep across them as she did every night. Nothing like the beds she bunked down in at the back of the brothel as a child. Orphans were often taken there to be used as servants and maids as younglings and then grew up to spend their lives on their backs. Not Sif, though. She had aspired to such sheets, but on her own terms. Those beds with the soft sheets in Asgard's finest were not for sleeping in. No man had been between her thighs for coin and they never would.

Heavy with the spoils of the day, her Shieldmaiden was slow in the water but she could trust Hogun to keep her course true. Therefore, she allowed herself some pleasure and slipped her fingers between her legs. As she bit down on her lip to prevent noise, she let her mind wander over the taking of the day, the fire in her blood from the anticipation and of the fight. She let the rum that she had imbibed settle in to her mind as she recalled Thor's arms glistening with sweat and the sun, Fandral's smirk as he had turned to her after killing those three men, Hogun's backside as it moved under the cloth of his trousers with the movement of his swing... Loki's face as he stood and faced her, speaking of parley. She squirmed as her clit throbbed with pleasure. Loki's long eyelashes fluttering down as he blinked, his look of indignation and shock at recognising Thor... she had to stuff her free hand in to her mouth as a fist as she peaked and squirted, soaking her sheets in a vaguely circular wet patch. 

As she caught her breath again and moved to the other side to avoid the mess she had made, she sank in to a boneless and sated sleep; today had been very _very_ good.

Awaking with the sun's appearance, Sif redressed and threw open her windows to clear the smell and air her room out properly. Choosing to ignore last night's aid to sleep, she washed out her mouth and scrubbed her face. Today was a new day and they might even get paid by the end of it if the wind stayed true.

Once cleaned, dried and dressed, the Captain stepped in to her anteroom where Cook had laid out her breakfast, the fresher meats liberated from the barge yesterday. She took her time enjoying it instead of just bolting down dried, cured meats as she usually did. 

"Bring me the smaller prisoner," she demanded of Fandral when he poked his head in to tell her of the winds that morning. They were making good time to Midgard, better than Sif would have supposed with her fat bounty in tow. He came in as she finished her cup of sweetwater, a very precious resource at sea and she part-filled a cup for the captive.

"Eat of our magnificent bounty, Loki" she told him, offering him the cup.

"You mean _our_ bounty that you stole," he retorted and she smirked, drawing back the cup and deliberately taking a long sip.

"I rather believe I commandeered it fair and square," she retorted, picking up a slice of fresh fruit that was so ripe it quivered in her grip and popping it in to her mouth.

"You are a pirate, that rather precludes 'fair and square' does it not?" He replied, showing a defiant streak that amused her.

"Not so," she teased, selecting another slice and finally letting him take some refreshment as well. 

"Your men fought us on greater terms and yet we prevailed. Whose idea was it to have such a prize so weakly guarded? Not your own, I am given to believe." He stayed silent, so she continued. "Judging by the 'tactics' displayed when he tried to disarm me, I might suppose it was the brother you pleaded for?" Loki's eyebrow twitched in apparent annoyance but he remained stubbornly silent. 

"This makes me wonder if I might not ransom you to Vanaheimr and him back to Jotunheimr. What say you?" More silence, Sif smirked and just when the silence loomed and threatened to become uncomfortable, she gave him the cup. He drank almost greedily for it as she never allowed her captives food or drink for a full day after their capture to make them weak and pliable. This repeated itself for the next three days and she kept him deliberately separate from his kin, showing him a mix of kindness and cruelty as she offered him better food, drink and lodgings than the other captives even as she needled him about Jotunheimr. She got a decent amount of gossip and insight from Thor and it justified her hunch that Loki was the overlooked of Governor Laufey's sons despite being the eldest. She was determined to crack his exterior and claim even more of a prize than before. She focused on that and tried to ignore the feelings in her loins whenever he was near. He intrigued her and she could not deny (to herself at least) that there was something alluring about the captive. She wanted him. The fourth day since his capture, they neared Midgard and Sif told the men that they could have their shore leave. As they pulled in to port, they sold off their spoils and filled the hold with gold, silver, gems, provisions and rum. Full to bursting, Sif guarded the ship with Hogun who declined his shore leave despite his Captain urging him to stretch his land legs. Thor disappeared with Fandral and Volstagg almost immediately; Thor to his not-so-secret girlfriend, Jane's home, Volstagg to the local tavern to spend his gold ordering half their kitchen and Fandral to a local brothel. Most of her crew followed the blond. 

"Are you certain you do not want to accompany Volstagg?" Sif asked one last time, smoothing down her skirt.

"Yes." 

"I will be in my cabin," she told him, letting him stand guard between the boarding ramp and the brig. Loki, she went to fetch herself despite knowing she probably should not. Cook had laid out quite the fare before he had hastened off-ship, pockets bulging with gold. Despite being pirates, the crew of the Shieldmaiden were welcome at this port as they brought so much gold here and had never really attacked it to keep the locals sweet. What they plundered on the seas usually lined many pockets here and Sif liked it because her crew were always very contented after a brief shore leave. 

She found him shackled by one wrist to the wall in Thor's cabin. He was furiously writing at an awkward angle on a scrap of paper he had found.

"And just which of my crew were to deliver this for you?" Her voice acidic and he spilled his misbegotten ink on his hands.

"None." He retorted, but Sif could see the little discarded bottle for herself. Here, in port, it would have far more chance of being found quickly. She snatched up the letter.

_Whomsoever finds this letter, please ensure that it finds the intended destination. For this service, you shall be amply rewarded. This I promise._

_To: Sigyn Gnásdatter, Viscountess of Vanaheimr  
From: Loki Laufeyson, of Jotunheimr._

_Sigyn,_

_I fear that I will be unable to reach you on our intended wedding day. It is likely that you will have heard of the attack on our barge en route to you. I do not yet know if I will survive the journey, the pirates_

Sif felt something writhe unpleasantly in her gut as she read the short, aborted letter. Loki was engaged? Not only engaged, but to the Viscountess of Vanaheimr. She did not know the girl personally, though Thor did. She knew her by reputation, though. The young girl had assumed the throne upon the demise of her mother some years before. The noble lineage had run through the female line and so the rule had gone to the girl rather than to Gnás husband as it would have on the other islands of the seas of Yggdrasil.

In that moment, she suddenly realised that she found Loki unspeakably attractive. She had spent several nights in her cabin with her fingers between her legs thinking of him but refusing to acknowledge the obvious. She could never tell him something so stupid, she could never admit it to any of her crew - not even Thor. She had brushed it aside as his simply being a new face for her to think of but such a feeling could not be ignored for long. She did not want to let him off of this ship to go off and marry some other girl but then, Sigyn was nobility and _she_ was a common born pirate.

Thrusting the thought from her mind of anything long-term or foolish, she looked him over. Perhaps a tumble would be all she needed to rid herself of him? He could merely prove to be just a pretty face that she had come across and being new to her, seemed exotic and intriguing. She had seen the same faces over and over for so long, that had to be all it was. Still, he was engaged.

“No wonder your barge was so overloaded with lovely jewels and gold. I should thank this Viscountess for getting such a dowry for you for me to spread to those who actually could do with the coin.” She told him, tossing the letter down on the table contemptuously.

“They weren’t yours to take,” he rebuked and she laughed at him.

“And it was yours?” She threw right back. “How many of your people break their backs working to give their hard-earned money to your father only to be downtrodden for it? No thanks, give me the seas any day.” Loki got to his feet and glared at her. 

“Do not speak of my father.” She drew herself up to her full height and found that she was a little taller than he when stood beside one another. He looked a little wary and she was clearly the one in power here but he was not defenceless, that she was sure of. He knew that the crew were currently spending his dowry in the best whorehouses Midgard had to offer and that she did not have them at her back. Of course, she did not really need them to be at her back but he did not know that.

“Why not, Little Loki?” she teased. “You’ll put yourself on the line for a brother you clearly do not even like and get tetchy when I speak of your father. Family issues? Want to talk about it? I am sure I have a couch somewhere for you to lay on and cry over your rich and easy life.”

“Do not speak of things you know naught of,” he retorted and Sif smirked, amused. He was a little firecracker despite what he had been trying to display since his capture.

“Rich and easy lives? No, can’t say I know much about those.”

“You know nothing of Jotunheimr, you know nothing of me.”

“I know that you are desperate to get off of this ship and away to your little wife-to-be.”

“Fine,” he looked about ready to explode and Sif enjoyed seeing some passion fire up in him. “Fine, you want to know the truth? I am by blood and birth order my father’s heir but he doesn’t want me. He wants Helblindi - the brother you smacked about for me. I’ve been sold off in marriage to Vanaheimr to get rid of me. Sigyn is a good friend, nothing more and I have a golden cage to look forward to. A cage is still a cage, whether it is made of gold or iron.”

“Then why the note?” She asked, a little more softly this time. She had not been expecting that, even though she had already guessed that Governor Laufey was less than enamoured of his first-born based on what she had seen so far.

“A cage of gold comes with a comfortable bed. Being shackled to Thor’s wall does not.” She could not help it, she laughed. His face closed off and he grew angry and she continued to laugh at him.

“You preening little princeling.” As she laughed, he fluidly picked up a knife and threw it cleanly at her. He had some skill, but she had more and she knocked it from the air with the dagger she kept at her hip. She stalked towards him and he backed away, a little scared. She drew her myriad daggers from her body, laid down her sword and spread her arms wide.

“Take your best shot, _princeling._ ” She goaded.

He took a hesitant step forward and she knew he was trying to weigh up the pros and cons of taking the opening. She might have more concealed daggers on her for all he knew or could be near a trap-door trigger that would send him plunging in to the water below or possibly the brig with his brothers. She was an unknown in this, but getting past her could be his one shot for freedom. She tilted her head a little to show how little she thought he could take her down and saw the recognition of it in his eyes.

“I think I hate you,” he told her with little spite in his voice as he stepped forward again.

“The feeling is mutual.” Instead of trying to attack her, his lips were on her own and she reciprocated. The kiss was deep, burning and a little desperate. She pushed him back in to the wall and he wrapped his arms around her, one hand trailing down to her buttocks and the chained other up her spine to tangle in her long hair. She ground against him as he ground back. There was more fight and fire in him than his whole inept crew had mustered on the day of the attack and she liked it. 

"You try to attack me and I'll run you through," she warned as she pulled back just enough to speak.

"I'm counting on it," he replied just before retaking her lips. Sif moaned in to the kiss as she allowed him to touch her. The kiss sent their already ignited passions higher and with a few wriggles, his breeches were sliding down to his knees and her skirt was pushed up. With a rip, he tore her knickers away and tossed them to the gently swaying floor. "I _liked_ those," she rebuked as his lips found her throat.

"I'll get you a new pair," he told her before he found her slick entrance and slid home in one powerful thrust. "My treat."

Sif arched her neck back and laughed as he spoke and entered her. She felt his tongue dart out and taste her sea-spray dashed neck even as they began to furiously buck against each other.

"Mmm, not sure my plunder will cover it," she joked as he groaned in to her neck before silencing her with his lips. It was everything she had imagined as she had touched herself with him a deck below but she wanted more. So much more. She used the wall as leverage and pumped her body along his quivering shaft with all the considerable strength that she could muster.

He broke their kiss and gasped, worried that she had hurt him or that his chained wrist was chafing, she opened her eyes. They were so entwined that on his face was a look of intense pleasure. She got a thrill at causing that expression and in a moment of clemency, she snatched up the key and with some difficulty owing to the angle, she freed him. Thinking for a moment that he would seize his chance to escape, she was surprised when he pulled her up tighter and swung her around on to the table. He pulled her in to his hips and thrust so hard Sif thought the table might buckle. It held true though and just when the sensations became too much, she cried out and blasted in to her orgasm. Even as she enjoyed it, she heard him grunt and then he came with her, pouring his seed in to her in bursts of intense pleasure.

He emptied himself and then collapsed down upon her, Sif welcoming him to do so. They were streaked in their own and each other’s sweat and Sif began to laugh.

“Oh come on, I wasn’t that bad,” Loki huffed in annoyance as she did so.

“Thor is going to be furious that we fucked on his table,” she laughed even harder and even Loki allowed a smirk to cross his features when what she said sunk in. 

“Indeed he is.” He paused and looked down at her. “So… what now?”

“Well, I believe that is up to you.” She replied. “I can still ransom you off to your lovely bride-to-be, I can drop you off here in Midgard for a new life or I can send you back to your father with your brothers.” _Or, you can stay here with me_. She was annoyed at herself for how much she wanted him to propose the idea.

“I don’t think I’m ready to make such a decision,” he admitted.

“We have two days in port. That is your deadline.” Whatever he thought of the deadline was lost as he kissed her again, seeming to Sif like he wanted to make the most of the time they did have and she was not about to try to force an answer from him, especially not when he had just done that with his tongue.

They had retired to her cabin after exhausting themselves, eaten and proceeded to continue making the most of the night. By the time she fell asleep, Sif was exhausted, nicely sore and wrapped around her new lover. Most of the crew, she knew, would stay off-ship tonight and so she had no intentions of sending him back to the brig or to be chained to Thor’s cabin wall. When she awoke, not to find her bunk free of any warmth but her own, she was both surprised and very happy. It rather helped that Loki had woken her up in a rather good way to greet the day. She gripped and twisted her sheets as his tongue worked marvels against and within her and she came with a cry that echoed slightly in the small sleeping quarters.

“Mmm, morning” she greeted him with a slightly slurring voice as she let her body enjoy the aftershocks.

“A good one, I hope.”

“Good so far. I was going off-ship today. You can come with me if you like. If, at any time, you want to leave, I might be persuaded to let you ‘escape’.” She almost surprised herself at her words, but she meant them. She had plenty of gold from the plunder and sale of the timber from his ships as well as the potential bounty to be made from the ransom of him and his brothers.

“We’ll see.” He agreed to the proposal and pulled away so that she could stand. They dressed and left the ship, Sif instructing Hogun to watch over the Shieldmaiden and ignoring the look he gave to Loki as she led the apparent captive down the gangway.

They had a nice day, almost pretending to be just two people walking around. They got right up until the sun was beginning to set before they stumbled across any of her crew as most of them were sleeping off the hangovers of the night before and gearing up for another night of debauchery.

“Sif?” It was Thor and, beside him, the petite girl he had fallen in love with; Jane Foster. “What is _he_ doing here?”

“I have my reasons.” She replied, a little archly. “Nice to see you, Jane.”

“Sif,” the other girl acknowledged.

“‘I have my reasons’, Sif? Come on, this is me you are talking to.”

“Yes and I am still your captain, Thor.” She challenged him with her words and with the eyes trained on him sharply. “I have this under control.”

Despite her words, when they stopped at a smaller tavern for some food, she noticed Thor and Jane slip in after them and try to hide in a shadowy alcove. Sif ignored his scrutiny and turned back to Loki over her beef and ale pie. It had been a nice day, verbally sparring intermingled in nice discussions about their lives. She had learned a lot about Jotunheimr that she had never known and he had learned much about life on the seas. It had been a companionable day and Sif was very pleased that she had decided to bring him, even knowing what Thor would say when she was back on the ship and in private. They had even sneaked down an alleyway at one point in the middle of the afternoon and indulged themselves. As she remembered it, her cheeks must have pinkened because Loki gave her a very knowing and smug smirk as if he knew _exactly_ what she was thinking of.

“I’ll be very surprised if word has not yet reached my father about the abduction,” he told her as he ripped his fresh bread and dipped it in the sauce on his plate far more delicately than Sif had moments before on her own plate. “He will likely send ships to retaliate.”

“If his tactics match your brother’s then I will be breaking them down for profit or sending them to Davy Jones’ locker, each and every one.”

“I don’t doubt it, but he prefers the tactics of numbers, he might just overwhelm you.”

“Why are you warning me of this?” She asked, partly suspicious but also partly curious.

“I don’t want you to be 'sent to the locker' as you so eloquently put it,” he replied before popping the sodden piece of bread delicately in to his mouth. “You’ve been better to me and mine than I would have assumed pirates could be, even knowing you can get a bounty on me.”

“But you still want me to take you to Vanaheimr.” His expression spoke the words his lips did not.

“I do. I should go to Sigyn. She has gone to great lengths to offer me the life she has done.”

There was no more talk of Sigyn, bounties, Jotunheimr or Vanaheimr as they finished their meal and headed out. Between them, her knowledge of Thor and Loki’s wiliness, they evaded their tail and sneaked off down the beach. Out of sight of any but the open sea, Sif drew him to the sand and they let the water lap over their toes as they shifted together with muffled moans of pleasure.

It was a snatched moment, that she knew, but she needed it. As he made her toes curl, she let it all wash over her. She could be with him and open in a way she could not to any other. Not her crew, where she was Captain Sif, not with those she had grown up with many of whom did not approve of the life she had carved for herself and there was no one else in all of the high seas that she really conversed with. Loki was different, he was also trapped if in a very different way. They could speak with each other, they could tease each other’s bodies in to ecstacy and they both knew that they would never breathe a word of it to anyone else. He would be dropped off and wed, living a life of luxury and she would sail away to live a life of adventure and freedom. They both had different paths, they just converged at the right time for each.

She gripped his buttocks tight as he spurted within her, clinging desperately to her lips to muffle the noises they would have made otherwise and given away their position. Her legs were wrapped tightly around his hips and she shivered as pleasure ripped through her body yet again. As they came down, panting for air and sinking in to the sand, she sighed.

“I needed this,” she admitted.

“So did I,” he told her and she felt something twist within her. 

The next morning, he was below decks again and chained to Thor’s wall and Sif was giving the orders to weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen mast. They were moving steadily away from Midgard’s waters with much of their gold left behind them but all of the crew very happy with their shore leave exploits. They set sail for Vanaheimr and Sif ignored the twisting in her gut at the thought of losing Loki to the isle.

“Hoi there, set to or I’ll keelhaul you. I don’t care if you’ve got to throw up. Do it over the side and get back to work,” she shouted at one of her crew who was hunkered down beside some crates. He scrambled to get to work before she carried out her threat. “First Mate, my cabin.” 

Thor followed her and she slammed the door behind him. “Out with it, then.”

“What were you thinking, letting him roam free ashore?” He asked her, incredulously.

“What were _you_ thinking, leaving a life of boring luxury and taking to the seas with pirates? Loki is locked in your quarters as before but your choices will not be so neatly done away with, will they?” She shot back.

“You like him, don’t you?” he ignored her barb and turned the tables on her. “Listen, friend Sif, Loki is charming. He can wheedle anything out of anyone. All save Laufey and Helblindi in those circles knows that despite his small stature, Loki is the best and brightest of Laufey’s get. No one in their right mind would try to groom Helblindi for rule over Loki and yet Laufey is not _in_ his right mind. Before we were even born, he tried to attack Asgard. My father sent him back to Jotunheimr and many of their people to watery graves when he turned back the assault. He has never forgiven my father even though it was he that attacked.”

“There is no need to warn me of this, for one thing, we _already_ attacked and killed his men so regretting it now is no option. You did not regret it when you spent your plundered gold on your Midgardian lover, did you? For another, Loki already warned me himself when I was out so ill-advisedly with him.”

“Don’t let your heart entangle you, Sif.”

“Coming from you, that is rich.”

“I mean it. Be careful.” He went back to his duties without another word and Sif opened the bottle of rum, drained it and then threw it out of the window in a furious rage, watching as it splashed pathetically in to the sea.

As the cook laid out her meal, she brought Loki to her again.

“We will be at Vanaheimr tomorrow.” She opened the conversation as he looked at her quizzically. “I know a shortcut that cuts a day and a half from the voyage.”

“That explains a lot,” he chuckled and sat down. “I was wondering how you’d get there so quickly.”

“I have decided to drop off the others there as well.”

“Might I ask why? You’ll get more coin from my father.”

“I’ve got plenty of coin from him as it is and I will not risk my crew needlessly in a pitched battle one on who-knows-how-many. Lady Sigyn can get reparations from her father in law after me and mine have sailed far away.”

“Is this because of me?” He asked quietly as he fiddled with a small piece of bread.

“No, actually, it _is_ for my crew. Your father has a reputation, it would be foolish to ignore that.”

“I understand.” He put down the morsel of bread. “Then we only have tonight left.”

“That we do.” No more words were needed and the food was left to get cold as he picked her up and pressed his nose to her neck, breathing in her scent and she wrapped her legs around his waist after quickly shucking her knickers. A quick fumble and his trousers hit the deck and he pressed up between her thighs. Their lips met as he pressed inside, thrusting immediately and she felt her back hitting the load bearing beam in her cabin with each thrust. She breathed in hard through her nose as she forced her hips to meet his in their near-frantic movements. It was as if they had only five minutes left, not one night; their actions were so staccato and powerful. Groaning in to the kiss, she wrapped one arm around the beam for an anchor and the other around his shoulders. His feet were set wide to steady them both and he broke the kiss to trail his lips down her neck and she bit her lip as she tipped her head back.They came together in a silent scream and she sagged down in to his arms as their combined come slid down the base of his shaft and dripped on to the floor of her cabin, ignored.

“I have to go and give orders,” she breathed hard as she spoke, tipping her head forward again and pressing it to his own.

“Don’t be long.” She kissed him again but he did not pull out. Instead he secured her against his hips at a different angle and teased his fingers down to her clit, gently massaging it. She was still acutely sensitive from her very recent orgasm and was surprised as it was not long at all before the gentle sensations began to cause her core to tighten again. 

“I really do need to go and give orders to my crew,” she pretended to protest.

“Mmm, yes you do,” he agreed but increased his attentions instead. 

“I should have you walk the plank for this,” she moaned as she leaned more heavily against the upright beam.

“But you won’t.” She did not bother to reply, instead she kissed him as she released for the second time that afternoon.

The rest of her day was spent alternating between dressing and giving orders to her crew, undressing and riding Loki to her satisfaction and eating the now-cold food that Cook had provided. All in all, it was a pretty good day in Sif’s book. What was not so satisfactory was the sunrise the next morning and the cry of ‘Land ho’ from the man in the crow’s nest.

“Tomorrow is your wedding day,” she told the man in the bunk beside her. She had not even bothered to return him to Thor’s custody the night before. What Thor thought be damned.

“Today, more likely,” he told her as he rolled over and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder.

“You have to be kidding me. I can’t fuck a guy on his wedding day to some other woman!”

“It is already overdue, they can’t risk waiting any longer and upsetting the guests or letting the food spoil. Anyway,” he rolled her over on to her back and settled between her legs. “I’m not _fucking_ you.”

“Then just what are you doing?”

“Shut up, Sif,” he muttered as he pressed home and, for the first time on her ship, she listened to someone else’s orders.

By the time land was in view, Loki had been returned to his brothers and the small retinue and a messenger was dispatched in a long boat. Lady Sigyn herself came back with some very capable-looking guards at her beck and call. Sif had to admit, the girl was beautiful and it did not help at all. Sif crooked a finger and her prisoners were brought out, inspected and exchanged for huge chests of gold. She was pleased that it went so smoothly, she had expected there to be obstacles.

“If we can have word sent to my father, to let him know that all is now well? The pirates have given us up intact and whole.” Loki asked his bride-to-be.

“If that is your wish.” Sigyn eyed him and Sif thought it had a little suspicion in it.

“It is. They could have harmed us, they did not.”

“Agreed. Bring the boats.” Sigyn and her retinue left the Shieldmaiden and as soon as they were far enough away, Sif had her beloved ship turn tail and sail away.

\----- _A year later_ \----

Turning back in to port with her hull fat and full of gold once more, Sif made her way to Asgard’s port harbour. Thor had received word that his father was sick and he knew that it was finally time to give up the life of piracy he had embarked upon. Sif was not so privately of the opinion that bringing Jane along as his fiancée would hardly help his father’s recovery, but she did not prevent it and picked her up on her way past Midgard.

She had sailed fast but cautiously and in the waterways she preferred. They were considered too dangerous for merchant ships away from the shipping lanes but she had heard a vague rumour that Laufey had not been placated by the message Sigyn had indeed sent. All Sif knew was that Laufey was itching to see her and her Shieldmaiden at the bottom of the waters of Yggdrasil.

“I haven’t seen you so tarted up in years,” Sif laughed at Thor as he stood, dressed in his princely finery up in front of the crew.

“I love you too, Captain,” he teased back.They pulled in to the harbour with a cock-and-bull story ready of how they had returned him rather than having been the vessel he had lived on for so long and were admitted to the docks.

Thor insisted on being accompanied by Sif and the Three - to protect Jane - so they headed up the hill to the palace. Inside, Sif got the shock of her life when she saw Loki walking down the hallway with Queen Frigga by his side.

“Thor,” the Queen swept him in to her arms. Sif did not hear what else passed between them, even when Thor introduced Jane to his mother. He looked well and he was more handsome than her mind had recalled, perhaps in a bid to protect herself a little more from their parting.

Thor disappeared with his mother and the rest and Sif excused herself in to an anteroom, Loki following quickly behind her and locking the door.

“I did not know you were here,” she said, turning to look at him and found him barely three steps from her. He closed the small distance and kissed her. She melted in to it before alarm bells sounded in her head and she pulled back.

“You are a married man.” She reminded and protested.

“You really should pay more attention to the gossip instead of sailing out of these waters only to return to Midgard for short visits,” he took her hands.

“What?” It was true that she had steered clear of her usual haunts, blaming the need for new exploration and plunder when in actuality she had been fleeing Laufey’s threats and Loki’s memory.

“I did not marry Sigyn. To cut a long tale short, she had spent a lot of time with the wedding guests before I turned up. She met one particular gentleman and fell in love. She said she knew just by looking at us on the Shieldmaiden that there was something between us and that it gave her the opportunity she had sought. She agreed to marry me to help me, not because she loved me. I gave her leave to follow her heart and she married Theoric of Alfheimr instead.”

“So… you aren’t married?” Her wits seemed to have dulled in the shock of seeing him so suddenly.

“I’m not married and my father has disowned me.”

“Is that good news?”

“Well he still would prefer you dead, but Sigyn … well, she is a very strong willed woman. She and Byleistr, my youngest brother, made a pact. She told my father she would cease all diplomatic, trade and peace agreements if he tried to retaliate against me for not marrying her as he had wanted.”

“How did I not hear of this?”

“From the intelligence I received, you were many leagues away. There was a bit of a disagreement and my brother, Helblindi, was killed in a fight when he foolishly challenged Theoric - who just so happened to be a Knight. Sigyn agreed to hold him and only him responsible if Laufey backed off. A one-off that could be ignored. By is going to be the Governor after my father dies...which by all reports is not going to be far off. He has declined since my brother passed.”

Sif just stared at him, it was so much to take in.

“You aren’t married and no one is going to scuttle my ship and murder my crew?” She asked, carefully.

“I’m not married and no one is going to scuttle your ship and murder your crew.” He reiterated.

“And you’ve been living here, knowing Thor would have to return home?”

“Exactly that.”

“Right. Okay.” She was trying to wrap her mind around all that she had heard and he chuckled annoyingly at her and made her frown. “Shut up.”

“Gladly.” He stepped in and kissed her again, his arms circling around her and pulling her in to him.

“You know,” she said in between kisses “now that Thor” kiss “is back home” her hands slipped down and pulled his belt free “I will” the sound of his trousers sliding down his legs and hitting the floor echoed around the small, ornate room “be needing” her knickers were pulled off and dropped and Loki licked a line up her neck as he pulled her hips to his own “a new First Mate.”

He pushed home smoothly and she moaned his name softly, mind still awhirl with everything she had heard. She had tried to escape this past year, utterly ignorant of the events she had helped cause and then left in her wake but the only part of it that actually mattered was that she was here, alone with Loki and that he was buried inside of her once again. She had missed him too much and told herself repeatedly that she did not. He had undone all of her lies to herself with one kiss.

“I accept.”


End file.
